1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal display (LCD) apparatus, and more particularly, to the improvement of address marks for easily specifying a defective location in the LCD apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a prior art LCD apparatus is constructed by a transparent substrate, a plurality of gate bus lines formed on the transparent substrate, a plurality of signal bus lines formed on the transparent substrate substantially perpendicular to the gate bus lines, a plurality of common electrode lines formed on the transparent substrate in parallel with the gate bus lines, and a plurality of pixels connected to one of the gate bus lines, one of the signal bus lines and one of the common electrode lines.
During an inspection mode, in order to easily specify a defective location, a plurality of address marks are provided for the gate bus lines (the common electrode lines) and the signal bus lines (see JP-A-2000-147549). This will be explained later in detail.
In the above-described prior art LCD apparatus, however, there are the following problems. First, when a static charge is transferred by means of a spark or the like to one address mark, since the address mark is electrically isolated, the static charge is consumed as Joule heat therein, so that the address mark is melted, which would generate defects by dust. Second, if each of the address marks serves as a test pad so that the address marks are exposed to the air, when a rubbing process using a rubbing roller is performed upon the address marks, the address marks are peeled off, which also would generate defects by dust.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an LCD apparatus with address marks capable of avoiding defects by dust.
According to the present invention, in an LCD apparatus including a transparent substrate, a plurality of first bus lines formed on the transparent substrate, a plurality of second bus lines formed on the transparent substrate substantially perpendicular to the first bus lines, a plurality of common electrode lines formed on the transparent substrate in parallel with the first bus lines, and a plurality of pixels each connected to one of the first bus lines, one of the second bus lines and one of the common electrode lines, a plurality of address marks are formed on the transparent substrate and each of the address marks is connected to one of the first bus lines, the second bus lines and the common electrode lines. Thus, since each of the address marks is connected to one of the bus lines and the common electrode lines, even if a static charge is transferred to one of the address marks, the static charge is transferred to the bus lines or the common electrode lines, which would avoid defects by dust.
Also, the address marks are covered by an insulating layer. Thus, even if a rubbing process is performed upon the address marks, the address marks are hardly peeled off, which also would avoid defects by dust.